Tobacco pipe



March 9, 1937. E. KELLAN TOBACCO PIPE Filed Fe b. 24, 1936 Patented Mar. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOBACCO PIPE Edward L. Kellan Chicago, Ill. Application February 24, 1936, Serial No. 65,351

2 Claims.

The object of the present invention is, through a simple modification of an ordinary tobacco pipe, to insure'that the tobacco in the bowl will remain dry instead of becoming wet and soggy in the bottom thereof; in which liquids and solid bodies, some or all of which might pass in one direction or the other between the bowl and the mouth of the smoker will be effectively trapped and thereby rendered unobjectionable; which will provide a cool, dry smoke; and which may easily be so effectively cleansed that with the exercise of very little care the pipe will never have a strong or evil odor.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a pipe equipped in accordance with the present invention, -a small fragment of the stem and the tube elements being shown in elevation;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. l, on a much larger scale, and showing only the shank portion of the pipe; and Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2, showing only the tube elements.

Referring to the drawing, l represents the bowl of a pipe and 2 a shank integral therewith. A stem 3, the outer end of which constitutes a bit or mouthpiece, is detachably fitted to the shank. In order to connect the shank and the stem together, the forward end of the stem is provided with a cylindrical projecting portion 4 of reduced cross sectional area; the part 4 fitting into a bore 5 in the free end of the shank.

What I have described may be regarded as typical of ordinary or usual pipe construction. The first departure which I make is greatly to enlarge the bore 5 by extending it throughout substantially the entire length of the shank and terminating it just short of the bowl. Thus, there is provided a pocket or chamber of large capacity within the shank. Smoke entering this chamber is drawn into the stem through a short tube 6 arranged at the longitudinal aXis of the stem and projecting from the part 4 or plug of 50 the stem farther into the bore or chamber 5.

Thus, there is no continuous passage from the bowl through the stem, but the connection between the bowl and stem is through the large chamber into the center of which the tube 6 55 opens. Consequently, any liquids or solids that enter the bore or chamber 5 from the bowl collect in the bottom of this chamber, whereas gases maybe drawn into the open end of the tube 6 by suction on the stem.

If a piece of tubing having the proper wall thicknessto give the desired strength and durability is employed as the tubular member '6, liquids and small solid particles are apt to adhere on the flat edge face of the wall of the tube, at the free end of the latter, thereby resulting either in clogging of the smoke passage or in the drawing of bitter drops or particles into the mouth of the smoker, or both. I have found that if the wall of the tube 5 is reduced to knife-edge thickness at the free open end, no liquid or small solid particles can adhere thereto strongly enough to support their weight or be immune to the influence of the air and smoke currents set up during the smoking of the pipe, and will therefore quickly become dislodged. I have therefore tapered the free end of the tube 6 to give it a frusto-conical shape, as indicated at I; the conical surface intersecting the cylindrical inner surface of the tube at the free end of the tube and producing a sharp edge.

It is also important that the flow of material, whether gaseous, fluid, or solid, from the bowl into the chamber or bore 5 be so directed that it will not enter directly into the open end of the tube 6. The smoke outlet from the bowl is therefore given the form of a second open-ended tube 8 which leads from a point just below the center of the bottom of the tobacco-receiving chamber back into the bore or chamber 5 and into overlapping relation with the tube 5. Thus, any rearwardly moving stream discharged from the tube 8 enters the bore or chamber 5 behind the open end of the tube 6 and impinges against the front face of the plug member 4 of the stem.

In the case of a smoker who permits considerable saliva to flow into the stem of his pipe, it may be that a comparatively large amount of liquid collects in the bore or chamber 5. If precautions were not taken, this liquid might enter the tube 8 and flow into the bottom of the bowl, thereby rendering the tobacco wet and soggy. To prevent this from occurring, I incline the tube 8 upwardly and rearwardly so that its rear open end lies in what is normally the top or upper part of the bore or chamber 5. With this arrangement, the bore or chamber 5 would have to be almost full of liquid before any would normally enter the tube 8; and, before this can happen, the smoker is fully apprised of the fact that the chamber 5 needs emptying. Even though some liquid should enter the tube 8 when the bowl is turned upside -down for knocking out the ashes, the first puif or two on the pipe will serve to withdraw this liquid and cause it to return to the collecting chamber and objectionable wetting of the tobacco in the pipe will not occur.

In order to bring the rear open end of the tube 8 as high up as possible, without making the bore 5 unduly large in diameter, I prefer to flatten the rear end of the tube 8, as indicated at 9, whereby its height or thickness in the vertical direction is reduced without reducing the cross sectional area of its bore.

The tubes 6 and 8 preferably do not touch each other, and they preferably overlap only a short distance, usually not more than one eighth of an inch in actual practice. If the tubes touch each other or overlap for too great a distance, it becomes more or less easy for liquids or semi-liquids to collect upon the tubes and either clog them of permit disagreeable substances to be drawn into the mouth of the smoker.

In order to insure that the joint between the stem and the shank of the pipe will be fiuid tight, I prefer to provide the plug member 4 with a groove l0 surrounding the same. Any liquids that seep into the joint between the stem and the shank, from the collecting chamber, will enter the groove and remain there until the stem is detached and the plug can be wiped clean. If desired, a removable packing may be placed in the groove further to insure against seepage through the joint in the pipe.

I In order to clean the pipe, the stem may be disconnected from time to time and a pipe cleaner or the like be passed through the stem and its tube and also through the tube 8. The collecting chamber may be cleaned out with a swab and, advantageously, by pouring alcohol into the same and dislodging any foreign matter that has collected on the walls of the collecting chamber, by means of a match or the like.

It will thus be seen that by simply lengthening the bore into which the stem of an ordinary tobacco pipe is entered to connect it to the shank, and adding two short pieces of tubing, I am able so to change the characteristics of the pipe that the major objections to tobacco pipes are completely overcome.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A straight stemmed pipe having a bowl, a shank and a stem detachable from the shank, there being in the shank a bore of large diameter extending from the free end to the vicinity of the bowl, the stem having a part much shorter than the said bore fitting into the outer end of the bore, an open-ended tube fixed to the stem at the longitudinal axis thereof and projecting forwardly from the same into that part of said bore inwardly from the stem, the wall of the tube being tapered on the exterior adjacent to its free forward or inner end to provide a sharp edge, and a second open-ended tube extending from the center of the bowl below the bottom of the tobacco chamber upwardly and rearwardly to a point above and slightly overlapping the first tube, the part of the second tube that overlaps the first tube lying close to the latter and being flattened to reduce the vertical thickness of the same and cause the side adjacent to the tapered portion of the first tube to be substantially parallel to the nearest longitudinal line in the surface of the tapered portion of the first tube.

2. A pipe having a bowl, a shank and a stem detachable from the shank, there being in the shank a bore of large diameter extending some distance inwardly from the free end, the stem having a part much shorter than the said bore fitting into the outer end of the bore, an openended tube fixed to the stem at the longitudinal axis thereof and projecting forwardly from the same into that part of said bore inwardly from the stem, and a second open-ended tube extending from the center of the bowl below the bottom of the tobacco chamber to a point above and slightly overlapping the first tube, the part of the second tube that overlaps the first tube lying close to the latter and being flattened to reduce the vertical thickness of the same.

EDWARD L. KELLAN. 

